It was a black Thursday for EEDC, Ariaria District Manager, Engr. Emmanuel Dim and eleven other staff of the electricity company as they were detained at the Aba Area Command for stealing and selling of consumers’ electricity cables. Aggrieved members of the Enugu Electricity Consumers Forum (EECF) gathered at the office of the Area Command to witness the outcome of a formal report made to the command earlier on the illegal disconnection and carting away of electricity cables of over 50 residents of the Over-rail area of the town.
The drama about the
whereabouts of the cables lasted for over four hours as neither Engr. Emmanuel
Dim nor any of his staff could give a clear defense on the allegation leveled against
them. At a certain point, some of the EEDC staff were requested to go and get
the cables in question to the police station but upon returning back to the station
reported that the cables which were supposedly in custody of the network
manager were nowhere to be found. When the network manager was asked about the
cables, he failed to put-up any defensive argument about the missing cables.
Addressing newsmen
before leaving the Area Command, Comrade Chuka Okoye, a civil rights activist,
said that it is high time, residents of Aba and its environs wake-up from their
slumber and fights all forms of illegalities perpetuated by EEDC. This he itemized,
ranging from carting away of consumers’ cable after disconnection; imposition
of the so-called estimated billing system on the masses which he described as exploitative
and unbearable to the harassment of consumers by security agents who accompany
EEDC Staff on revenue drive, which according to him is unconstitutional and abuse
of fundamental human rights. All these he argued strongly contravene the Electricity Power Sector Reform
Act, 2005.
Adding his voice, the Secretary of the Enugu
Electricity Consumers Forum (EECF), Chief Ike Opigwe, condemned the excessive,
estimated billing methodology devised by EEDC which he described as milking a
sick cow. He went on to condemn a situation whereby electricity consumers in
Aba are being billed N10,000 to N15,000 for a room apartment and N20,000 to
N60,000 for three-bedroom flats and stores, which has adversely affected the
commercial activities of the ancient Enyimba city. He finally noted that the
exploitation by EEDC manifest in various forms and ways as consumers are still
made to pay for electric poles, transformers and other materials whereas DISCO’s
(EEDC) under the law are mandated to provide all infrastructures without
tasking the consumers.
Reacting to the development, a member of the Joint
Action Group (JAG), Cassius Ukwugbe, lamented on National Electricity
Regulatory Commission’s (NERC) insensitivity to the plight of energy user’s in
Aba, as the regulatory body has abandoned their duty as the electricity
watchdog of DISCO’s hence leaving the fate of electricity consumers at the mercy
of the almighty EEDC. He finally said that there is need for the Federal
Government to set-up a committee that will analyze the recent activities of the
DICSO’s in the various constituencies as EEDC, since privatization has rather
become a cancer to inhabitants of Abia in particular and other South-eastern
states as a whole rather than a service operator.
